79" Laminated English Warbow first longbow!

[Arbator177]

Hello everyone! I'm new to longbow making and to this forum as well.  Although I've read a lot of topics on the forums that have helped me and have finally taking the initiative to build my own Warbow! Hope you can help me through some of the process 

The material I ended up using is a hickory back 1/4" thick with the core being 1/4" thick red oak and 1" hard maple. These were the choices I was sort of limited with the wood I was limited to in my area. I figured the hickory for the back because of it's straight grain and how dense it is. Red oak because it's a hardwood for the core and hard maple because it's softer to give it more flexibility and making it so it's not impossible to pull back haha. Not sure if these choices are smart or have been done before, but it's my first bow and I like having the challenge!

The style is the classic D shaped bow and the measurements are having the handle centered on the staff with 2.5" on either side. 1.5" thick at the handle and from the ends tapered down to 9/16ths at the tips (giving the extra 1/16th for room for error.) now for the width I also tapered to the same fashion although kept it 1.5" at the handle. And I think I may have made the measurement incorrect because the taper I feel should've been less gradual and tapered more near the end. Making it less of a straight line. Not sure if that makes any sense but I think I can work around it and possibly someone can tell me the reason for the now staying wider until the tips maybe for twisting reasons? I digress.

I'll try to upload some current pictures later when I get the chance but maybe have some thoughts on this project and another thing is that I have about a 30" draw length and was wondering the poundage I could possibly have on this without straining it too much/breaking it. By the way the glues used for the lamination is an epoxy used for boats. Not sure the name but it's probably stronger than the wood itself I've noticed from working with it. Also was hopefully able to achieve and handle with an arrow rest on it. 

So any help or advice would be great and I'll keep you all updated on my progress.
Thank you guys! 😀😀😀

[Del the cat]

Hi, I'm not sure of the wood choices as I generally make self bows.
A couple of points...
If this is your first bow, I'd suggest going for a manageable draw weight to start with and maybe a solid Hickory bow, just to get a fist bow done without over complicating it. You can also go for 28" draw to start with and then see how far you can go.
To try and dive in and make a warbow first time would be a big test of skill, patience and nerve
Keep the bow wider at the tips until you have got it bending back to brace height and braced, this is because a very narrow design like an English longbow or Warbow can be prone to bend sideways in the early stages and the width gives you room to move the tip across one way or the other. 1/8"-1/4" movement of the stringline at the tip is enough to stop the sideways bend and as you remove wood from the sides of the tip, it will slowly become narrowed anyway.
If you haven't seen my blog (Bowyers Diary) there are plenty of ELB and Warbow builds on there to follow.
Del

[Arbator177]

If this is your first bow, I'd suggest going for a manageable draw weight to start with and maybe a solid Hickory bow, just to get a fist bow done without over complicating it. You can also go for 28" draw to start with and then see how far you can go.

On that note is it possible to make a solid selfbow even if I don't have access to a live piece that has sap wood as well as the core? Or is it possible rather probable to just use the core wood? I think I will try to finish this bow seeing I've gotten a good way with it but thanks for the pointers. I'll probably take some more off the thickness to give it a lighter draw weight.
Thanks!

[ceolith]

Hello, you have to know the follow:

1.  Hickory has enormous capacitys in tension, so the back is the right choice.

2. Red oak is not a hardwood, it's to limp, to weak for a good centercore

3. the maple as belly for a warbow (...over 75#@32"...) with the typical D-shape at the limps will die the chrysalis-death.